Cabbage Rolls

I'm channeling my Polish Grandmother on this one and I think I've finally perfected the cabbage roll after multiple tries. Its filled with brown rice, lentils, mushrooms, onions, and garlic and eventually topped with yummy tomato sauce. A super satisfying meal, give this a whirl and I'm sure you'll love it!

Makes 12 Rolls

Blanch the Cabbage

This is the only tricky part. You'll need a whole head of cabbage here and you need to peel 12 leaves off without ripping them. Its ok if they rip a little (some of mine did), but you want to get as much of the leaf off intact as possible.

While you're carefully pulling the leaves off, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, drop in the 12 leaves (or do 6 at a time) and boil for about 2 minutes. The leaves will turn from a very light color to a beautiful rich green. Remove from the boiling water after 2 minutes and set aside.

Cook the Lentils and Brown Rice

In a saucepan on your stovetop cook 1 cup of lentils in 3 cups of water.

While the lentils are cooking, cook 1 cup of dry brown rice in your rice cooker or your stovetop.

Saute

Once the lentils and brown rice are cooked, saute 1 onion and 1 cup sliced mushrooms in 1 cup of water in another pot on your stove. Add in the lentils and brown rice and mix. You can also add about 1 cup of sliced greens to this if you'd like - spinach, swiss chard, collard greens or kale.

Cabbage Roll Filling

Assemble

After the cabbage is blanched and the filling is cooked, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Add about 2-3 teaspoons of the mixture to each cabbage leaf and roll into a tight burrito. Add to a large baking dish. You should be able to get 12 rolls in it.

Top with a jar of your favorite pasta sauce and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. The cabbage should be a little crunchy, not chewy, and the tomato sauce should be hot and bubbly! Enjoy!